Cat Peeing Outside of the Litter Box
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A surprisingly common question from kitty owners is, ‘Why is my cat peeing outside the litter box?’. It can be frustrating and concerning and never pleasant to deal with.
This guide looks at the potential causes and solutions for cats peeing outside the litterbox. Have you had problems with your cat peeing where it shouldn’t? What worked for you?
Please leave a comment if you’ve had success with your own tip or trick.
If your cat starts urinating outside the litter box, the most important thing is to get them to a vet to make sure s/he doesn’t have a blockage.
Male cats, for example, can get crystals in their urinary tract and die if not treated immediately.
Once you’ve ruled out anything life-threatening, you can start to work through the reasons and solutions in this guide.
Cats Not Using Litter Box Anymore: Reasons and Solutions
To help, here are the potential problems into different categories.
Medical Problems
- UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) or a blockage – Sometimes, if they have a UTI, it will make them “go” outside the box because they associate the box with pain when urinating. For example, if they are peeing on your favorite sectional, it probably feels softer. Once UTI is ruled out, for a REAL rule out, tests need to be done – urinalysis, x-ray, perhaps ultrasound. Take your kitty to the vet to get checked out. A quick trip to the vet and a long-lasting antibiotic should cure him, and he will be back in the box.
- Bladder Infection – S/he may have a bladder infection. Take your kitty to the vet to be sure they are healthy. The first step is always to take your kitty to the vet to ensure it’s nothing medical. If it’s painful when s/he pees, s/he’ll associate the litter box with pain and pee somewhere else.
- Diabetes – while diabetes can affect any cat, it tends to strike in middle age, especially if your kitty is overweight. High glucose levels can lead to excessive thirst and urination, including outside the litter box. You may need to ask your vet for some blood work to rule this out.
- Urinary Crystals – Like a bladder infection – these can cause a lot of pain, and the kitty starts associating the pain with the litter box. Go see a vet, just in case!
- DECLAWED? – Has this kitten been declawed? Declawed cats often have litter box issues as various litters hurt their paws now, so something to consider IF he has been declawed. Solutions will revolve around making the litter box as comfortable as possible.
Behavioral Causes
- Hormonal – If your kitty isn’t spayed or neutered. Some females will urinate to “advertise” that they are in heat. And males will spray to mark their territory. Spraying is quite different than just peeing, so you should be able to determine this. Speak to your veterinarian, but you may need to look into spaying or neutering your cat to solve this issue.
- Message – The cat is trying to “tell” you something. It might be that they’re not happy with their litter box or that there’s another issue they’re trying to communicate. Caymus and Murphy, my parents’ Ragdoll Cats, definitely had a message – check out what we discovered: Cats Peeing Everywhere – The Redecorating Efforts of Caymus and Murphy Dean
- Territorial – It could be territorial behavior with another animal in your house or even one that visits outside the home. This could also happen if the kitty is required to share the box with another cat. If you suspect it could be a problem with your cat being territorial, you have my sympathy – this can be tough to solve. If possible, try to separate the animals and carefully introduce your cat to the other animal until they are more relaxed. If that doesn’t work, see if giving your territorial cat their own space in your home is possible. It might not be if your house or apartment is small. Still, separation might be the only way to stop your territorial cat from marking the area with urine. Unfortunately, if you can’t resolve it, it may mean that the cat just isn’t compatible with your home, and rehoming may be the final resort.
- Territorial Outside – Even if you have an indoor only cat, your cat could be stressed because another cat is marking the outside of your home, claiming territory they know is theirs. This stress makes them act out by marking everything inside the house to drive away the intruder, and cats feel safer in their environment when they have their smells around. My mom experienced this when her two Ragdolls who had lived with a German Shepherd their whole life, started marking, especially near windows and doorways (where smells seep through the windows and and doors). My mom’s dog had died and she wasn’t getting a new one for several months, consequently, neighborhood cats started to visit the yard, since there was no more threat of a dog.
- FORGETFUL / START OVER – Weird trick, but supposedly suitable for kittens learning where their box is. You generally want to keep litter boxes very clean, but kittens can forget where their box is / that that is what the box is for. One cat behaviorist recommends scooping the pee, but if the cat poos outside the litter box, scoop the poo into the box and leave it there for a bit. The cat can use their sense of smell to learn, “Oh, this is a good place for poo to go.”
Litter Box Issues
- Litter Box – If you have a large breed cat, you may need an XL box. Do you have a hooded litter box? Maybe s/he doesn’t like the idea of a Johnny-on-the-Spot type of atmosphere when peeing. If you use a hooded litter box, remove the lid. A high-sided litter box is a great litter box for large breed cats and ones that pee standing. Make sure you have at least one litter box per cat. Old plastic litter boxes can absorb odors, even if you have kept them clean regularly. You may want to buy new litter boxes to see if that will help.
- Dirty Boxes – How often do you scoop your litter box? It should be once a day and sometimes twice a day. You should also completely clean and replace litter about once a month. Try cleaning the box more often too. Sometimes it can look OK, but you have to check with the scoop for buried or ‘mystical under the surface’ pee. A bigger, cleaner box can help.
- Litter Type/Kind Problems – This could be as simple as not liking their litter – have you changed it lately? What litter are you using now? Have you tried Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract? Think about it – if you don’t like what you have to stand on to go to the bathroom, then you probably aren’t going to stand there to do your business. Cats prefer fine-grained unscented litter.
- Litter Box Numbers – More than one box is a great idea. Sometimes kitties are very particular and like to go #1 in one box and #2 in the other.
- Litter Box Placement – The location of the box might be an issue. Is it somewhere in a high-traffic area? Is it near a washing machine or a dryer? Some cats stop using their litter box because they were scared out of their minds once when they were in the litter box. They stop using the litter box because it is not in a safe, quiet place. Think about it – would you want to take a dump with tons of people walking by? Try putting boxes in different areas of your house and, of course, on other floors. Likewise, if you have an old kitty or a young one, then it might take them too long to get to the one litter box you have in the home. Also, consider the offers litterbox placement in multi-cat households. “Some cat owners find innovative solutions to litter box problems. One owner with several kitties found the younger animals would gang up on the elderly arthritic cat when she needed to use the litter box in the living room, de Jong recalls. The owners resolved the problem with a sensor cat door collar, which gave the senior animal exclusive access to a room with a separate litter box.” SureFlap makes a Microchip Pet Door that opens and closes for specific kitties or pups.
- Litter box placement next to walls –Alicia shared this discovery about her cat that solved his improper elimination behavior: “For his inappropriate toileting, I discovered by accident that he wants the box to be away from walls and not in a corner. With a 360-degree exit strategy, he uses a box 100%. It was a complete accident that I discovered it. I’d tried many types of litter, covered and uncovered boxes, cat attract powder, you name it. Then one day, when I was scrubbing the bathroom floor, I moved the box out from the wall to clean behind it, and he went right in it and peed. I left it away from the wall after seeing that, and sure enough, he continued using it. This was after a decade and thousands of dollars in ruined furniture and rugs. In hindsight, it makes sense because he acts aggressively whenever he feels cornered or confined. He won’t even take food or treats if he feels cornered. I’m sure it’s collateral damage from having him declawed and feeling defenseless.”
- Cleaning – In addition to cleaning litter boxes, you also need a clean environment, including removing all old urine stains and spots from the places s/he has peed. If your kitty can smell the old urine, that place will still seem like a good place to pee. Use a black light to find old spots and treat them with an enzymatic cleanser.
Other Potential Solutions
If you’ve worked through all the potential causes above and still can’t work it out, keep trying. It can be disheartening but don’t give up! In the meantime, here are some other things you may want to look into to manage the issue.
- Animal Communicators – Something weird might be going on, like a ghost haunting the house and making them want to mark their territory. Animal communicators can help you figure this out. Read more about why my parents’ cats were peeing all over: Cats Peeing Everywhere – The Redecorating Efforts of Caymus and Murphy Dean
- Regularity – if your cat has peed outside the litter box once, it may repeat the behavior due to the smell left behind. Use a good black light to find the spot and clean it thoroughly, and consider adding orange peel, potpourri, or a tea bag to the area to make it less appealing to your cat.
- Plastic Carpet Runner – Try placing a plastic runner, which you would put over the carpet under your desk chair with the pointy ends on the other side, upside down where they pee. They don’t like the feeling of that on their feet!
- Puppy Pads – Some cats like to pee on something soft. So some readers have found that placing puppy pads in the litter box works just like putting litter in the litterbox – and the kitty pees on the puppy pads rather than in the litter.
- Automatic Litter Box – Some readers report that their cat stopped peeing outside the litter box when they switched to the Litter Robot because the cat always had a clean litter box.
- Cat Diapers – If you can manage to convince your cat to wear a diaper, you can at least stop them peeing around the home
- Feliway – Feliway is a synthetic copy of feline facial pheromones that can help calm and comfort cats during stressful situations. Diffusers and sprays are available to help cats feel secure and reduce unwanted behaviors like scratching and spraying.
Why Is My Cat Peeing Outside the Litter Box but Pooping in It?
It can be even more confusing when your cat is peeing outside the litter box but continues to use it for pooping. However, it can help you narrow down some potential causes.
After all, you know the litter box isn’t an issue, so you can rule out things like arthritis making it hard for your cat to climb into the box or anxiety due to its location. You also know they’re comfortable with the cat litter you’ve chosen. Generally, there aren’t going to be symptoms of litter box aversion if they’re happy using it for some toilet trips and not others.
So instead, it could be:
- A UTI, also known as idiopathic cystitis.
- Diabetes, especially if your cat is older or overweight.
- Hormonal spraying.
As a general rule of thumb, if your cat shows signs of inappropriate urination but keeps their cat poop in the litter box, it is more likely to be related to medical conditions. So this is definitely the time to get your cat checked by your vet for any health issues.
You should also make sure that your cat is actually pooping in their litter box. Don’t assume everything is normal just because you only find pee around your home. Check – if you have clean litter boxes, your cat may also suffer from constipation.
How to Combat the Smell of Cat Urine
Air purifiers are a great way to combat the smell of cat urine. You can place them near the source of the scent, and they capture the particles in the air that cause the odor, trapping them.Outside, the sun and wind give the air a natural charge – helping to break down odors and more. But indoors, you need a little help.
There are some other options that Floppycatters have recommended:
- Fizzion – Sharon in AZ said, “We used Fizzion when Selene first got here, and she was sneaky-peeing in anything that crinkled (shopping bags, crinkle tunnel, etc.). It is AMAZING…!!! She had hit 1 spot multiple times over 2 days before we found it – no trace of smell, and neither of them went back to that spot! We used it on tile/grout, and it was awesome!”Planet Urine – a Floppycats reader, swears by this product for urine odor removal – you can buy it on Amazon.Simple Solution Extreme Stain and Odor Remover -get this bottle by itself or with a black light to help you find the urine stains.Eco88 – Another stain and odor remover readers swear by.
I asked on our Facebook page, if readers have a cat pee crisis, what’s their ultimate odor killer? Here were the responses:
Carpet – If on the carpet, try to treat the carpet on both sides, the padding underneath, and the wood sub-flooring. If not, the smell will resurface.
Listed in alphabetical order:
- Don Aslett, XO
- Fizzion
- Furry Freshness
- My Pet Peed
- Nature’s Miracle Stain And Odor Remover
- Peroxide, then rinse
- Pooph
- Resolve urine buster
- Simple Solution Stain and Odor Remover – “I’ve used it on hardwood floors, leather sofas, carpet cat trees, and bed linens, and I occasionally use it in the washing machine with cat towels.”
- Vinegar + bicarb is a good fix if you have nothing else around
- “Baking soda and then vinegar. Wait 30 minutes. They peroxide mixed with liquid soap. Let dry with fan. Follow up with enzymes and let that dry. Then I steam clean worth Plain water to remove all the cleaner.”
- Zero Odor Pet – “Blot up excess urine, rinse with cold water several times, blot up excess water. Spray Zero Odor Pet until carpet or fabric is saturated, let dry, do not rinse.”
Suppose you own an elderly cat who just started to pee outside the litter box. In that case, you can also read this veterinarian write-up from SeniorTailWaggers.com: Why is my elderly cat urinating in the house? Looking for Cat Poops Outside of the Litter Box solutions? Also, check out this post: Cat Pooping Outside of the Litter Box.
Learn more on CatInfo.org – The Litter Box From Your Cat’s Point of View. There are some excellent guidelines about house soiling.
We have also had discussions on Facebook that you might be interested in:
Have you had a successful experience getting your cat properly eliminated again? If so, please share your tips and tricks in the comments below!
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
Hi there!
Backstory:
I have a two year old tabby; his name is Leo. I have had Leo since he was 4 months old and he automatically started using the litterbox and grew up with two older cats in the home, he would have an occasional accident when he missed the litterbox which was only because he had grown so much larger than are other cats and we had to get bigger litter boxes to accommodate him.
Current issue:
Last September I moved and Leo adjusted pretty quickly. This was a new home for him with a new dog – my roommate’s dog, and my dog who was at the same home with him previously. He now starts to blatantly pee outside of the litter box but is going poop inside of it. This occurred a few times and then stopped for a while. I got a new kitten about two months of moving in and yet again he adjusts very quickly along with the kitten. However; he starts to pee outside of the litter box again, at this point I had two litterboxes in the home and go another one to try and resolve the issue. This worked for a while until he would go back to the spot (which is the landing before you walk into the basement with a door) and meow at the door wanting to get in the basement. So I had finally opened the door up and blocked off the areas that were unfinished that I didn’t want them to get into, once again the peeing had halted for a while. Then it picked back up again as the weather started to get nice. At my previous home he was an indoor/ outdoor with the other cats in the home. With this move I no longer wanted him to go outside since I back up to a nearby road and train tracks and the fact that he would be outside alone. So as time went by and the weather got nicer he had escaped a few times when the dogs would be let out so I decided to let him out with having an air tag on. Then once again the peeing halts for a bit but he then gets lost after being out and was about a mile from home which was odd since he never leaves the vicinity of my home, thank god for the air tag because I was able to track him and find him within an hour. However after he had gotten lost I have limited his time to go outside and the peeing is now minimum once if not twice a day.
I feel like I have tried every single solution possible and I do not know what else there is I can do. I appreciate any and all advice!
The spot where he is peeing – is it an outside wall or door on the other side? Is he spraying (is it on the wall?) or is it away from the wall? I assume you have made sure he is OK physically? What is his diet?
My 11 year old Ragdoll started peeing and pooping outside of the litterbox almost 2 years ago. Took him in numerous time and had no UTI, crystals, or Bladder problems. He would sit and cry. I finally figured out his problem was that he was constipated. Baby Bleu gets Miralax in his wet food, and Instinct Rawboost Mixers Digestive Health for cats. Unfortunately I think it took me too long to figure it out and he relates the litter box to pain. He pees on my foyer rug (with the preferred rubber backing) which I throw in the wash machine every morning and poops on a puppy pad.
My 9 year old Rag uses litter boxes with no problems.
I am glad you didn’t punish him. Other alternatives to Miralax for constipation are pumpkin, Acacia Powder, psyllium husk powder and chia gel.
One sachet of Fortiflora (crack for cats) and 1/3 capsule of 100% cranberry powder, mixed thoroughly with 3 units of water and fed to cat via kitten feeding syringe. You can also substitute tuna water if your cat tolerates/prefers it.
Monitor the litterbox – if you’re using a clumping litter it should solidify properly rather than spreading and breaking apart into wet clumps.
Repeat 10 days later if the first dose doesn’t help.
Yes, it’s a temporary fix to alleviate pain and allow your pet to resume normal potty habits. Do seek veterinary advice on whether struvite crystals are present and treatment/surgical intervention is necessary.
Thank you for leaving your comment on the post too!!
Sorry for the long post. We took in three Ragdoll cats in Oct. 2020. At that time they were 14 months old and we were their sixth owners so we know there’s trauma. 1. Breeder had them and died leaving them to her 2. son who didn’t care for them properly so 3. his landlord took them and had two spayed and one neutered and all chipped. She gave them to 4. the local animal shelter where 5. a volunteer bought them. Her life situation changed and she couldn’t keep them so 6. we took them in. All three hid under our bed for a while but one started spending time on a cat tree. When I reach out to pet her she puts her head down and closes her eyes like she’s expecting me to whack her. (we think the son abused them) The other two won’t let us touch them. We have a screened patio and lately all three will spend time out there with our other cats enjoying the birds, etc. Every now and then all three will lay on an area rug in the living room. One of the Ragdolls urinates on the floor usually right next to a litter box. We know she poops IN litter boxes so it’s not that she doesn’t like litter boxes or the litter. We have other cats so we have two Litter Robots and six regular litter boxes. The Litter Robots dump waste after each use so they are pretty much clean all of the time. (I know there may be some residual odor but no clumps of anything) I put down puppy training pads in front of the litter boxes which helps but sometimes she will miss the pad and it wicks under the plastic side of the pad. Vet said cystitis and gave her an antibiotic shot 8 days ago but still urinating on the floor. I know they’re traumatized from being moved around so much but we’ve had them for 4 months and it’s only the one that’s doing it. They seem to be settling down and letting us get near them without running under the bed to hide but what can we do to stop the one from urinating on the floor?
I scoop the litter boxes every morning and at night just before I go to bed. They have been with us for 4 months so any trauma from the move should be gone. (I would think) We have plenty of litter boxes (large ones) so she can choose which one to use.
What’s their diet? Have you tried the other things listed on this page?
Did your vet take a sterile sample of urine and have it analysed? Stress causes all manner of problems in cat’s digestion and urinary systems. If she was previously fed kibble only, then it’s quite possible that she has struvite crystals, which can be excrutiatingly painful and she may have a bad association with litter trays.
The other suggestion I have would be to start with the basics with this poor girl. Get some garden soil and an almost flat litter tray that she can walk into. Pop the pee mat down and get an old disposable fork and rake the soil when kitty is nearby. Cats seem to understand better when you give them nature’s “normal”.
Antibiotics are great if there is an actual infection. Sadly, too many vets are like too many doctors – a pill will fix it, rather than actually identifying the real problem.
Personally, I would start with acidifying her urine. One sachet of Fortiflora (crack for cats) and 1/3 capsule of 100% cranberry powder, mixed thoroughly with 3 units of water and fed to cat via kitten feeding syringe. You can also substitute tuna water if your cat tolerates/prefers it.
Monitor the litterbox – if you’re using a clumping litter it should solidify properly rather than spreading and breaking apart into wet clumps.
Repeat 10 days later if the first dose doesn’t help.
Yes, it’s a temporary fix to alleviate pain and allow your pet to resume normal potty habits. Do seek veterinary advice on whether struvite crystals are present and treatment/surgical intervention is necessary.
Having gone through all possibilities and ruling out medical conditions. We noticed 1 (out of 2 cats) always peed (full load), and at times even defecated at the door of my service yard. We live on the 5th floor of an apartment and strays will not be able to access my service yard. Each time, she will scratch the floor near the door in excitement before peeing. We noticed this behaviour occurs (everyday) during certain periods of the year. After 2 years, we identified that this behaviour occurs when it was exceptionally windy. As she goes back to her litter box eventually, we deduced that the winds brought the scent of strays to the door and that got her excited and perhaps territorial (she is neutered). To solve this, I cut up an unused pee pad in half (lengthwise to cover the width of the door) and stuck it to the floor near the door using masking tape. You can then choose to spray any cat friendly scent that you may have on the pee pad with the aim of altering the scent coming into the house. The reason why I sprayed it onto the pee pad instead of the floor directly is to slow down evaporation. Also, I hoped to prevent any corrosion from the solvents. I hope this helped
Thank you for sharing, Eugene – and I love how you came to your conclusions – and so glad you thought it through without punishing your cat! Bravo.
I wanted to add another reason we experienced with beloved Audrey. She became so ill a couple of years ago and had a stay at a local vet followed by a longer stay at an animal hospital in Louisville, in order to have necessary testing in order try to to determine why she was experiencing fluid buildup and issues making it to her litter box, after the local vet decided she may have to be put down. No definitive diagnosis was given by any vet at either place after quite a bit of different testings, but they let her come home temporarily since she was better, although we weren’t sure what the future held. One outstanding clue to us and what we noticed was she got so much better after her stay there with an IV so we decided to ask the local vet if it may be a food allergy since no answers were given by anyone. She would do better when she didn’t eat and then once she ate again, her condition would decline. He thought this a good idea. Trying a limited ingredient basic food was the turning point and answer we sought! She completely returned to her former beautiful, loving, happy self. One of her kittens also has some of these issues, with similar symptoms, although she tolerates a different food than what is fed to Audrey.
So if experiencing issues that can’t be answered, please consider that it could be a reaction to their food!
Thank you for sharing – what was she eating before and then what was she eating afterwards?
She went from Taste Of The Wild that is low allergy for her to Iams that made her very sick, then after animal hospital in Louisville didn’t have a diagnosis nor her local vet, we decided to try Blue Basics Limited Ingredient, Duck and Potato.
It may be different for each individual cat however.
Cats who have had an untreated or very painful UTI will associate that pain with a litter box, so they will poo in it but pee outside of it because in their mind, the litter “hurts”. I have found that they will very often use puppy wee wee pads (cheap at Walgreens $20 for 100 or on amazon).
another thing to note: where exactly is the furball going? in my case, Dex and Jake just cant seem to NOT pee on rugs that have rubber padding underneath. rugs that you would put in the bathroom for example.
i have to get rid of 2 rugs im using because of this. i have 5 rugs throughout my apt. 1 in the living room, one in the hallway going to the bedrooms and one in the master bedroom. the rugs in the livingroom, hallway and bedroom do NOT have rubber padding and they never get peed on. cats have 24 hour access to all 5 rugs but only urinate on rubber padded ones.
Both dex and jake have been to the vet to make sure they didnt have a UTI. both came back negative. i expected jake might come back positive since he had a recent issue and a very bad UTI that clogged him up, but nope. its something about the rubber and how it smells that gets them to go pee/poop on it.
Hi, Jenny:
Nothing to add. Just wanted to say thanks for a great post with lots of helpful info (as always)!
The only time we had a problem with Miss Pink Sugardoodles peeing outside of the litterbox was when she had that UTI earlier in the year, which we solved with diet and the Uromaxx supplement (as suggested by our vet) we got from Amazon.com.
Big hugs!
Patti & Pink Sugar 🙂 <3
Cool, Patti – thanks for adding a wee (pun intended) bit =)
Well my 15 month old male has decided the bathtub is the perfect place to pee. He has now decided to poop in there too. Nothing is wrong with this guy. The litter box is super clean as I scoop several times a day. I totally believe that because he sees us use the toilet which is right next to the tub he thinks this is his toilet! The vet cannot find anything wrong. He eats only wet food and has completely normal poops. He is one weird cat. He is also obsessed with watching my husband take a shower. Paws up on the doors and meowing the entire time. He just has a thing for the bathroom I guess. I am afraid if I try and block the tub he might go somewhere else. It may be gross but really I have the cleanest tub in town as I scrub the heck out of it after he uses it!
Hi–I’m new to this site but not new to Ragdolls (my Diesel is 6 years old) and unfortunately not new to cat-inappropriate peeing–our problem was happening on the beds. Peeing on the bed requires loads and loads of laundry and the only thing worse than peeing on the bed was peeing on the couch and the wingback chairs. Can’t just toss that in the washer.
What is working for me: First, Diesel went to the vet. Everything was fine except he needed teeth cleaned. Turns out one of his big teeth (fang? tusk? one of those big ones) was in bad shape. It was extracted along with 2 other tiny teeth next to it. It must have been hurting for a long time.
Second, I changed the way we do litter boxes. I’m now using Dr. Elsey’s clumping litter and cleaning the boxes as seen in cat info.org video. I have 3 boxes, clean them as described in video 2 times a day. I use Feliway pheromone diffusers and Tattletale alarms on couch. Yes, that’s a lot. But…no incidents in 3 months!
My 9 month old male cat has been peeing outside the litter box for a few months now. I have noticed that he only does it when I am not home or when I leave him alone too long (i.e. taking a shower). I have tried adding more litter boxes, trying different litter, getting his health checked, adding more play time, using those stress relief collars, giving him different food, and cleaning the box more often. He still does it but what I’ve noticed is that after cleaning it with the Nature’s Miracle Urine Out a couple of times he doesn’t pee on it. However, he keeps urinating on anything that hasn’t been cleaned with the Urine Out. I am thinking he may have some sort of separation anxiety so I am going to try interactive feeders and get some new toys for him to play with when I am not home.
We have had this issue with our grumpy neutered male cat. Every time we introduce someone new to the house, he feels the need to mark all over my books, the wall, the carpet, everywhere but the box. Then, new kitty feels SHE needs to over-mark, and we have pee everywhere. I found the Feliway to be very helpful to calm him down. I use Nature’s Miracle in heavy doses where ever there has been an incident. Between the two, and having plenty of litter boxes, the problem has pretty much resolved itself. The Nature’s Miracle gets rid of the stink people smell as well as the cats-only stink, which seems to prevent more peeing. I also picked up some cheap automobile carpet scraps with rubber backing, and have put them around the house in the likely incident-spots.
I agree with you about minimizing drug use. Dasuquin for Cats is probably more of a supplement than a drug. Its active ingredients are glucosamine, chondroitin, avocado, and soybeans. It’s OTC, not prescription. I get it from Amazon because it’s less expensive than buying it from the vet.
oh, if you can buy it on amazon, then i am sure it is a supplement. that makes me feel better.
By the way, the vets did recommend wet food for another of my cats who used to have UTIs, and that apparently helped; however, I have her back on dry now because neither she nor any of the other cats, strangely enough, like wet food, and she was getting too thin. The vets told me that once she was now over the age of five she would probably not have the UTI problem anymore, so it was okay to put her back on dry food to try to get her to a normal weight. She is doing fine now on Royal Canin Indoor dry food and hasn’t had the UTI problem since around 2007.
Ok, hope that continues
I’ll ask my vet about the wet food, but so far she and the vets at the NCSU Vet School have recommended dry food because of a tooth/gum problem he has. It’s some kind of autoimmune condition that makes his own immune system attack and destroy his teeth. It can’t be cured, but its progress can be slowed by keeping his teeth as clean as possible. The vet says that his bladder problem is not a UTI because he has no infection–just inflammation. Does Dasuquin have any troubling side effects that you know of?
No, I have never heard of the drug, but I was on a drug for years…and well, I am one of those people that think the less drugs the better.
In case stress is a cause of flareups in Wiley’s condition, the vet also suggested using Feliway products, but I was already doing that because I have four cats who don’t always get along very well. By the way, I also have a female FIV-positive cat that is on Dasuquin for the same inflamed bladder condition, but she has wet outside the box only once when I think she was stressed out by being confined in my bedroom while a workman was in the house. She seems perfectly healthy otherwise.
Are they on dry food?
He eats dry food. The vet thought stress could be contributing to his problem because it started when my nephew’s dog was staying here temporarily, so she suggested I try Royal Canin Calm, which is fairly new. Now I have him on a mixture of that and Royal Canin Indoor 27. I don’t really think the Calm has helped, and it’s very expensive. I may soon have to change him to some kind of diet food because he has gained too much weight recently too, and I think that may put more pressure on his bladder. The vet said that the Dasuquin, which is usually used for arthritis, is often used off label for inflamed bladder because of its inflamation-fighting properties. She has a cat with the same condition and has him on Dasuquin too to try to control the inflamation because the condition cannot be cured. It can only be treated.
Have you ever tried taking him off of dry food to see if some of these issues go away? UTIs are usually associated with dry food. You might check out http://www.catinfo.org where a vet explains the dangers of dry food. I hate to think that he’s on Dasquin for the rest of his life – maybe the inflammation would go away with the discontinuing of dry food? My cats are wet food only – after I read all the medical issues caused by dry food because it is the furthest thing from what their natural diet would be.
Wiley was peeing outside the box because of UTI when I adopted him, but he was fine after treatment. However, when he started peeing outside the box again later, the vet’s tests showed no UTI, but he did have blood in his urine. The vet said that means he has an inflamed bladder, and she put him on Metacam for three days and Dasuquin indefinitely. That has helped, but he still pees outside the box occasionally when it is too dirty for him or does not contain his preferred litter. I have to check and, if necessary, scoop the boxes every few hours.
Glad he is better now! What does his diet consist of? Does he eat dry food? Why on Dasuquin indefinitely?
Noodles used to pee outside the litterbox. First few times it was UTI, then later he started doing it again because the box was too small. Now he’s perfectly healthy (except now he’s all itchy and balding but I can’t find any fleas, ear mites, or anything. Maybe allergy? Hopefully the vet knows) with a larger box and a storage tub with a horse-shoe cut that he alternates with. One day he pees in the storage tub box, poops in the other, then the next he does the opposite.
Thanks for sharing – that’s interesting about the box being too small – how did you figure it out that it was too small?
Sorry to hear about his itchiness and balding – sounds like he needs to be at the vet immediately – sounds horribly uncomfortable! Let us know what the vet says, please.
I have a female kitten who is very playful/rough with my other older female kitties, and she has been urinating outside the litterbox. We found her under our porch crying for help, so her exact age we are unsure of, but we estimate eight months at this point. We began to find urine spots and, at first, didn’t know who the culprit was, but it became clear it was her. She has been taken to the vet, where I insisted she was starting to go into heat, but the vet told me, no, and she had some slight WBC in her urine. She was treated with injectable antibiotics, and that was that. She was still peeing everywhere. Eventually, she was fixed at the end of Oct, but the inappropriate urination is consistent. She has no issues with the litter boxes; she even goes while I’m actively cleaning them. She’s not attacked or threatened by the other cats as she is the instigator. I have at this point 6 litter boxes—different floors of the house, different heights of sides, enclosed and open. I use horrible smelling enzyme cleaner that seems to deter her from urinating in the same spot, but she finds new ones. Just this evening, she urinated on an extension cord/plug, and we began to hear cracking and smelling smoke. She has peed on beds, stuff animals, bags (plastic/paper), carpet, wood floors, laundry on the floor, paper, an oven mitt, and now electrical things. I’ve even tried some of the calming plugins. Any more thoughts before I go insane? I refuse to give her up, and I am a seasoned cat lady, but I need help.
What else from this page have you tried?
1. Different litters? Like Cat Attract?
I have used the same brand but different types. Since she will actively use it for both I assumed the litter wasn’t the issue.
Hello;
I have an 8 month d Ragdoll. She always used the litter box since we got her 3 months ago. However 2 weeks ago she started peeing and even pooping other places. All
Different places not even same spots. I took her to the vet and she’s healthy. I’m not sure what to do next??
I posted your comment on our Facebook page, so you could get some responses – but without knowing what you’ve tried on this page, I am not sure how we can help too much.